€10m rail station unlikely to open by end of year
The Irish Times - Monday, June 20, 2011
A NEW €10 million railway station at Hansfield in west Dublin is unlikely to open before the end of the year despite a local campaign and the intervention of Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar.
Residents who were promised a railway station offering commuter links to Dublin by mid-2010 have been told that agreement on completing outstanding works is imminent.
However, Irish Rail confirmed yesterday that the timetable for the outstanding works – a new access road of less than half a kilometre and a park-and-ride site – would be six months from the signing of the agreement.
The agreement was brokered by Mr Varadkar and involved Fingal County Council and Irish Rail, as well as property developers Menolly Homes and Manor Park Homes.
The solution involved Mr Varadkar confirming €1.4 million in funding from the National Transport Authority’s capital budget to complete works and the access road and a car park.
It is understood the property developers have provided the land.
Up to 100 locals staged a protest march at the unopened railway station at the weekend, waving as trains carrying passengers from M3 Parkway and Dunboyne sped by on their way to Dublin.
June McEvoy said many residents had been attracted to local developments by advertising hoardings which proclaimed: “Look what’s coming Summer 2010 – Hansfield’s very own Train Station” with the text “Choo Choo Choose Barnwell Hansfield”.
However, Ms McEvoy added, they were disappointed when the line, which serves Clonsilla, Hansfield, Dunboyne and the M3 Parkway, opened last September without access through Hansfield station.
“From our homes we can hear the trains going by every half hour, they just don’t stop.”
The €10 million station, built by the property developers at their own expense, is a higher specification than that envisaged initially by Irish Rail.
It was the subject of a separate planning application after the initial railway order was granted for the reopening of the Clonsilla to Dunboyne line.
Irish Rail said it had fulfilled all its obligations but the developer had not completed the access road.
The station is capable of handling 15,000 people a day but development in the area has all but stopped in the last two years.
The weekend march was organised by the Ongar Facilities Action Group.
Participants marched to Manor Park showhouses and from there to the unopened train station.
They also marched to Mr Varadkar’s nearby constituency office to hand in a letter calling for the speedy opening of the station.
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